As many of you know we have been on a “get-the-stuff-out” rampage ever since May of last year. Originally, I thought I had started the purge journey in January, but after flipping through my previous journal, I saw that I started on May 21st, 2024. Anyway, to date we have moved 2,487 items out of our house since then… This still amazes me, and since I don’t see us stopping now, it makes me wonder where we’ll be by May 21st, 2025! The whole project started because our home was starting to feel out of hand and hard to manage. There have been some significant unexpected wins along the way that we hadn’t counted on and I’d like to share these with you!
The photograph above is one I’ve shared before and demonstrates one of the larger donate “hauls” we had. I can see art, sewing supplies, home decor, and lighting. This is evidence that we’d sorted through several different categories. While this was one of the larger loads, we usually had one box, or basket every week. When we were in the midst of this project I didn’t think about taking many pictures. Why would anyone want to see the junk we’re getting rid of? Now that we are seeing such a difference in our home I know those before/after pictures would’ve been great! I may not have many “before” pictures, but I do have the “afters!”
“You can’t organize clutter, and you can’t decorate clutter.” Shannon Acheson
If your goal is to organize or simplify your home the very best place to start is with purging. This is the opposite of what people usually do. They buy organizers or systems first. By waiting until you have reduced your home inventory to a manageable base, then you will see clearly what needs organizing and exactly what/where to do it. This brings up my second point… Purging brings clarity.
Purging brings clarity.
By purging first you will gain clarity for what comes next. You will see what things you actually have and exactly how they need to be organized. You also will be able to see the spaces you have available since they won’t be covered up with clutter. Once you can truly see both the spaces you have and the things that will be in them two options become evident. One option is to re-evaluate what is most appropriate and sensible for a space. You may want to relocate certain items to another more logical location. The other option is to then buy any needed organization systems for the items that you know you’ll be keeping.
Clarity gives permission.
Once you are certain of the organizing system that will work in your home and with your stuff you can feel confident about your purchases. By doing the mental and physical work of de-cluttering your space you are very familiar with the inventory you have to work with and how it will be used. One example of this in our journey is in our pantry. Once we removed the things that didn’t belong and re-evaluated what was left we noticed there were four categories of things that would benefit being housed in baskets. I carefully measured the shelves and ordered one pair of baskets from Amazon. I started with one set to be sure they would fit before ordering the other pair. As you can see they fit perfectly! Not only do the baskets help keep the things grouped together, but it also gives a visual continuity to the pantry. I found that when an area is highly simplified and prettily organized it stays that way!
Another example is in our coat closet. This closet is not glamorous, but before we purged it you would have to fight to hang your coat, and I was the only one who knew just how to twist the vacuum around to extract it from the hole where it was wedged. Now, with the closet highly simplified, we felt confident in ordering a set of matching wooden hangers! I commented to Matt the other day: “It actually feels so grown-up to be able to say to a guest ‘hang your coat in the coat closet’ and they actually can!” This simple little closet feels luxurious now, and he commented the other day when hanging his coat “I love this closet!”
There are many more space transformations I’d like to share with you as we move into 2025. I would like to further refine how we store things and continue to improve the functionality of our home. What experiences have you had in keeping your home manageable? What spaces do you struggle with?
Purging brings clarity. Clarity gives permission. Systems give peace!
